Results 4,721-4,740 of 5,118 for speaker:Joe O'Reilly

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran. He is a distinguished past Member of the Seanad. We cannot avoid putting this Bill in a proper context and stating what is not that palatable about it. Effectively, it is a Soviet-style takeover of micro-planning by the Minister, Deputy Gormley, and the Department. It is a communist operation; it is a centralisation of planning...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Nov 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I join Senator Hannigan concerning his remarks about the great problem of C. difficile in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. Our hearts must go out to the families of the two deceased people. As a matter of urgency, we need a debate on hygiene in our hospitals, the auditing of it and of staffing levels and investment. The entire area needs investigation and I appeal to the Leader to...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: It is a pity that the Government is all over the place on what will happen in the budget. The Government is sending out conflicting signals to different interest groups and is partly responsible for the fall in bank shares today, together with the ordering of the NAMA legislation. It is a huge problem and for that reason I support Senator Fitzgerald's call for a debate on the economy and...

Seanad: Proposed Postcodes: Statements (21 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: What is the Minister's position on the adoption of a GPS rather than the number system such as Dublin 2, area 111 or whatever? Ultimately, the GPS is more beneficial in economic terms, in terms of the delivery of the emergency services, etc.

Seanad: Proposed Postcodes: Statements (21 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I appreciate the Minister's reply and thank him. Is there not a risk of junk mail with every system? Is that not something people will have to be given the option of preventing? Is there not that risk already? Does the Minister believe the GPS would be a more accurate way of pinpointing locations for the emergency services? I appreciate the comprehensive nature of the earlier reply.

Seanad: National Marine Mapping Programme: Motion (21 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I will restate the first paragraph of the motion which "commends the Government's continued support of the national marine mapping programme, INFOMAR, on the tenth anniversary of its initiation as the Irish National Seabed Survey". It is worth mentioning that Ireland now has the biggest marine territory of any country in the European Union. As a result, we need to explore or map these...

Seanad: National Marine Mapping Programme: Motion (21 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: Such issues should be Members' real subject of discussion, given that no Member is against this motion or opposes the mapping of our marine territory. While I will leave that point, it merited being made. I will turn to the motion in a general sense. The main advantages of the mapping project relate in the first instance to the development of offshore energy projects as mapping is key to...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: The debate should be extended.

Seanad: Proposed Postcodes: Statements (21 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: Tá fáilte romhat, a Aire. My party fully agrees with the introduction of a new postcode system. We believe it should be done as a necessary part of a modern economy and as cost efficiently as possible. It would speed up the post's delivery and increase efficiency. At this stage, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the tangible improvements achieved by An Post in recent years in...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: The wrong and brazen acceptance of a €70,000 bonus by Mr. Drumm in the HSE gives rise to my request to the Leader for a debate on the fact that we have, effectively, two Departments of health. We have the Department of Health and Children, a big Department based in Dublin, with a highly expert Civil Service staff whose members attained highly in school to achieve entry, and around the...

Seanad: Public Transport: Motion (7 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: Fáiltím roimh an Aire Stáit agus gabhaim comhghairdeas léi as a ceapachán mar Aire Stáit. I second the motion tabled by my colleague, Senator Buttimer, and in so doing congratulate him on his grasp of the issues in rural Ireland and the passion he displays for them. This is reflected in the motion, its considered nature and his exposition of the issues dealt with therein. In 2005 I...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Oct 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: It has become accepted wisdom that more than €4 billion must come out of this economy in the upcoming budget or there will be €4 billion in cuts. I would like a debate on these specific issues. Two points must be made clear and this must happen in advance of any such drastic cutbacks. First, it must become clear there is a new system of governance in this country, namely, that value...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Sep 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I would like to formally second Senator White's proposition. The abuses that were documented and chronicled in the Ryan report should make us collectively ashamed. I would like to speak about a different matter. The Minister for Health and Children recently suggested that the health service will be the subject of €800 million of cutbacks over the coming year. When one takes demographic...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Sep 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: The recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General is an horrendous chronicle of wanton waste. It is an indictment of Government and the system of governance over the years in question, as well FÁS itself. In reading the report we are reminded of the biblical injunction to fill barns in the years of plenty. Rather than doing so, however, we emptied barns, sold the timber rafters and...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: We are preparing to adjourn today in extraordinary times. A cynic might say it is part of the ritual at the end of the year that the Opposition calls for an extension of the session and for longer debates, but today is different.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: We are living in extraordinary times. People have made extraordinary sacrifices and next week they will be asked to make more in order that the Government can aggregate €5 billion. Given the circumstances, with unemployment at almost 15%, the impending report of an bord snip nua and the overall gravity of the situation, we need to show a particular type of leadership. We need to take...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I am asking the Leader to arrange for a debate on this issue today. I second Senator Mullen's proposition in this regard.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I also second Senator Fitzgerald's proposition that we extend the term. These are not ordinary times and the Leader's response cannot be ordinary.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: There is all-party agreement on that.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jul 2009)

Joe O'Reilly: I support my colleagues in their absolute and unanimous condemnation of the Government's handling of the debate on the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009. This major legislation will make a number of seminal changes in respect of such issues as the inferences that may be drawn from a failure to co-operate in court, Garda testimony and bail. Its implications are enormous. While I...